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This Week in Women: Jemele Hill Tells it Like it is

“There were plenty of people hoping that I, too, would just disappear,” Hillary Clinton wrote in her much anticipated What Happened, that hit stands on Tuesday. “But here I am.”

Fittingly, this week we’re presenting highlights from art and media about women correcting the record and telling the real stories.It’s time for This Week in Women!

Jemele Hill Prevails in Wake of Tweet Controversy

SportsCenter co-host, Jemele Hill, was embroiled in a controversy this week when her tweets about a possible Senate campaign by Kid Rock led to the remark, “Donald Trump is a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists.”

The White House was quick to respond with spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders attacking Hill, calling the incident “outrageous” and a “fireable offense.”

While there were some reports on ThinkProgress that ESPN had attempted to replace Hill, the network has roundly denied the claim and issued the following statement: “Jemele has a right to her personal opinions, but not to publicly share them on a platform that implies that she was in any way speaking on behalf of ESPN. She has acknowledged that her tweets crossed that line and has apologized for doing so. We accept her apology.”

Hill has remained above the fray and received resounding support from her SportsCenter co-host Michael Smith and other program hosts from the ESPN network, as well as receiving a visit from National Association of Black Journalists colleagues. On Wednesday night she hosted the usual time slot, as well as tweeting out #Facts with the following statement: “My comments on Twitter expressed my personal beliefs. My regret is that my comments and the public way I made them painted ESPN in an unfair light. My respect for the company and my colleagues remains unconditional.”

KU Hosts Art Exhibit “What Were You Wearing?”

The University of Kansas is hosting a poignant art exhibit “What Were You Wearing?” featuring 18 outfits and accompanying statements.

The phrase has become a sexist cliché when sexual assault survivors are forced to relive their experience, as a way to undermine accounts and explain away the atrocities. This exhibit shuts down victim-blaming by sharing the outfit that the person was wearing when they were assaulted, as well as a simple quote from the person.

“Khakis and a dress shirt. I had to give a presentation that day in my communications class. They took my clothes at the hospital during my rape exams. I’m not sure what happened to them,” reads one.

This heart-wrenching collection of stories sheds light on the realities of sexual assault and pushes sexist norms outside of the comfort zone.

“It’s not about what we were wearing,” said KU’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Education Center director Jen Brockman. “It’s the person who caused the harm. And that’s where we need to start focusing our efforts on—how do we stop harm before it happens?”

Extensive Sexual Harassment Claims Cast Shadow at University of Rochester

A 113-page compliant has been compiled and filed by a group of University of Rochester faculty members with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The thorough complaint explores the 11 accounts of sexual harassment allegedly perpetrated by Florian Jaeger, a professor in the University’s Brain and Cognitive Sciences department, and President Seligman’s “dismissive attitude” in the proceeding investigation.

“Our university emails have been secretly combed by university lawyers trying to find things to embarrass us — is this how universities are supposed to operate when professors raise questions about sexual harassment?” reads the formal complaint. “We have been denounced as liars and untrustworthy at a faculty meeting by our department chair, based on a misreading of those emails. Some of us have been forced to leave the University. Those who remain have been systematically ostracized. The President has ignored all of this.”

The EEOC has not yet responded; however, the university has issued a formal statement that reads as follows: “We believe that the 100-plus page complaint document represents a narrative that is largely based on hearsay that was not substantiated in our investigations or in the subsequent appeals, and ignores factual evidence.”

Featured image via GQ

Stay tuned to Milk for more of This Week in Women and check out our previous installments here.